Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Foreign object debris (FOD) can be a safety and quality control concern in various environments such as, for example, aviation, aerospace, manufacturing, warehouse, and shipping environments. Indeed, in such environments, FOD may potentially cause damage to equipment, injury to personnel, and/or increased manufacturing expenses.
In general, FOD can be any object that is in a location at which it should not be. As one example, when a drill is used to form a bore in a workpiece, the drill may push a portion of the workpiece out of the bore on a back-side of the workpiece. This portion of the workpiece pushed out the back-side of the workpiece may be referred to as a “drill cap.” In some instances, the drill cap may remain partially attached to the back-side of the workpiece. If a fastener is then inserted through the bore and coupled to the workpiece by a nut, the drill cap can become trapped between the workpiece and the nut. The trapped drill cap may compromise the integrity of the fastening and/or render the workpiece non-compliant with applicable manufacturing guidelines or regulations. Further, if the drill cap is later discovered during inspection, the manufacturer may be required to disassemble various components of a manufactured item to remove the drill cap from the workpiece.